Real food. Real conversations. Real connection. Real honesty. Real chocolate (NO carob!) Real compassion. Real expression. Real joy.

Real CARE.

We yearn for a life of genuine care yet we’ve been socialized to keep it at arm’s length.

As women we’ve been trained to reject our real bodies. Deny our real thoughts and feelings. Ignore our real cravings. Suppress our real voices. Push aside our real desires and dreams.

We were taught to deny ourselves these powerful forms of CARE and wonder why we feel depleted, stressed, stuck, broken, torn, resentful and freaked out in so many areas of our life.

I know all about denying myself real care.

Growing up in a weight-focused family, caring for myself really meant making sure I stayed thin.

By the time I was 16, I was a full blown anorexic. Three years after recovering from my eating disorder, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and spent the next decade trying every diet imaginable to naturally cure my disease.

Every time a new diet failed and my symptoms returned, I blamed myself.

And while I thought I was taking care of myself by eating “perfectly” and exercising daily, I was obsessed with my body and my health.

Without realizing it, I’d swapped out old anorexic behaviors for new orthorexic ones. (Orthorexia is the clinical terms for an obsession with healthy eating.)

To makes things even more complicated, I was in a deeply unhappy marriage, which I refused to acknowledge. “Everything’s FINE!” I told myself and spent 6 years trying to contort and change myself into someone my husband liked.

It wasn’t until one evening when he said, “I don’t want to be married to you anymore”, that I realized I was facing the biggest choice of my life.

I could either choose to believe I was a broken, sick, unlovable person who couldn’t keep her man happy OR I could be a woman who chose herself.

From that day forward, I decided to choose myself and my agency.

Now as a mother, every day I’m asked to choose how I’m going to show up for the small humans in my charge. With them in mind……

I choose self-compassion over self-criticism.

I choose to have tough conversations instead of staying in “good standing” with the people in my life.

I choose joy over judgment.

I choose curiosity over control.

I choose trust over vigilance.

I choose connection over comparison.

What I’ve learned from this wild ride of life so far is that mistakes are inevitable, life is f*cking messy, forgiveness is key, we are allowed to change our minds, and when we belong to and CARE for ourselves, we are unstoppable. 

As for credentials, I have 17 years experience working one-on-one and in groups with clients all over the world. I have a certification as a Holistic Health Coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, I am a coach for the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center’s Milestone Maker’s Program and for the past 10 years have been a Power Circle & Women’s Leadership Facilitator for Emerging Women, an organization dedicated to helping women entrepreneurs, executives and creatives make a positive impact in the world.

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A few facts about me…

• 10 years ago I fell madly in love with my partner Adam and quickly gave birth to 2 crazy kids, just 21 months apart.

• Both my daughters were born at home.

• I’m BONUS-mom to a far-too-mature 17 year old girl who challenges and teaches me daily.

• I’m an INFJ, a Scorpio and Type Nine (The PeaceMaker) on the Enneagram. 

• I believe a good sweat, salty tears and the sea are sweet medicine.

• I charge my crystals in the full moon and pull a daily angel card because, why not?

• My favorite past times are laughing until it hurts, Cuban salsa dancing and watching old Broadway musicals.

• Appreciation — giving and receiving — is a lost art. I’m bringing it back.